Mr Manish Tewari, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Information and Broadcasting, Mr Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and more than 70 top broadcast industry leaders participated in the 4th CII CEOs Round Table on Broadcast on 18 April in New Delhi.

Issues related to digitization and the regulation on advertisements on television channels were discussed at the Round Table. On digitization, Mr Tiwari asked the broadcast industry to ‘think aloud’ on the need to have a separate broadcast regulator. He once again mooted the idea of a ‘techno-commercial’ regulator for the broadcast sector, which is witnessing rapid changes in the wake of cable TV digitization. He also made it clear that content would not be regulated by the Government.

The Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to execute cable TV digitization, and protect the interests of the consumers, who are the largest stakeholders in the digitization exercise. From 1 April, 38 cities in 15 States of India are receiving cable TV digital broadcast.